Bitcoin News Roundup – 23 Aug. 2015

An American startup unifies Internet of Things with the blockchain technology. As Stacey Higginbotham of Fortune reports, Filament has raised $5million in a Series A funding round led by Bullpen Capital to leverage blockchain for IoT. Filament has built Tap, a rugged sensor package and technology network that allows its sensors to conduct business even when they aren’t actually connected to the internet. Other investors that participated in the round included Haystack, Verizon Ventures, Samsung Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Working Lab Capital, Digital Currency Group and Techstars, among others.

On the same page, Intel aims to combine Internet of Things with bitcoin Transactions. Jp Buntinx of Bitcoinist reports that Intel aims to make IoT mainstream by using blockchain technology to create a seamless environment that can secure bitcoin transactions. According to Intel’s statement “We missed mobility, we’re not going to miss the Internet of Things.”

Greece may soon get bitcoin ATMs. As Katy Barnato of CNBC reports, following Greece’s recent credit crisis and capital controls, 1,000 bitcoin ATMs are scheduled to be established across the country to facilitate the transfer of money and allow users to exchange fiat currency for bitcoin and possibly vice versa. Founder of BTCGreece, Thanos Marinos, stated “If all goes as expected with no major issues we will launch first ATMs October 2015.”

Mark Karpeles has been rearrested. As Yessi Bello Perez of Coin Desk writes, Mt Gox CEO has been in custody for three weeks without formal charges, but now he has been served with new embezzlement charges concerning $2.6 million customer fund theft. Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police will now hold Karpeles in custody for an additional 23 days.

Regulation

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) favors the bitcoin regulation.As Nikhil Gupta of NewsBtc writes, Mr. Obot Akpan, CBN Director of the Financial Policy and Regulation Department, acting on behalf of Dr. Okwu Nnanna, CBN Deputy Governor Financial System Stability, raised concerns regarding the virtual currencies and explicitly stated that CBN wants the bitcoin transaction to be under control. In his speech in the 2nd2nd Anti-Money Laundering/Combating Financial Terrorism Stakeholders Consultative Workshop that took place in Abuja, Akpan stated:“The virtual currency is dangerous because it is not a legal tender of any country hence it has a borderless nature without jurisdiction which makes it a channel for money laundering.”

Businesses using blockchain technology to facilitate the transfer of precious metals are viewed as money transmitters. As Leon Pick of FinanceMagnates reports, the new ruling of the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) comes as a response to the wide number of startups engaged in the brokerage and storage of precious metals, which used the blockchain technology to transfer ownership of the metals. FinCEN claims that each company that does that is both a money transmitter and a precious metals dealer, and therefore, subject to the relevant regulations, which include assessment of money laundering risk and implementation of anti-money laundering program (AML), above all.

Payments

Glidera launches bitcoin buying services for wallets. As Jessie Willms of Bitcoin Magazine writes, the Chicago-based cryptocurrency company facilitates bitcoin transactions by allowing wallets to use a white label API and avoid third-party providers to buy or sell their digital currencies. The company ensures that transactions meet all legal requirements and that are 100% secured. Glidera has developed this innovative service “To further promote a decentralized bitcoin ecosystem – giving users increased control over their bitcoin and more independence from third-party institutions”,David Ripley, Glidera CEO, says.

CoinWallet plans a stress test in September. Ian Allison of International Business Times reports that the UK-based bitcoin mining company will carry out a stress test of its bitcoin network, which is expected to prove most standard bitcoin wallet “worthless” and create “a 30-day backlog.” The test will be conducted in early September.